Warranty repair or replace, car auction advice and how to duck extra charges at stores

In this weekly segment of bite-sized chunks of useful information, consumer journalist Wendy Knowler summarises news you can use:

Not all warranties give you the right to demand a refund or replacement

Shelley found herself in a tough situation with the laptop she bought from Incredible Connection last January. It came with a one year warranty, but she paid extra to extend the warranty by two years. In February this year she had to send it in for repair after a hinge broke and caused a crack in the screen.

“They said the repair would take two weeks but it took an entire month. I had to spend R1,500 to rent a laptop to keep working,” she said.

This week the hinge broke again, and she was panicked by Incredible Connection’s response.

“They said I need to book it in again to be sent to Johannesburg, where they will decide whether it will be repaired again or exchanged,” she said.

The problem is at she leaves soon for a six-month stint of overseas work.

“If they choose to repair it and it’s not ready by the time I leave, what then?

“This is a R13,500 laptop. I can’t just chuck it in the bin and replace it. What are my rights?”

The good news is the laptop is still covered by a warranty, but the bad news is the supplier chooses the remedy, not the customer. It’s only in the first six months after purchase that the Consumer Protection Act’s (CPA) warranty applies, meaning if the product breaks in that time, you, the customer, choose the remedy. After that, as in Shelley’s case, the supplier decides on the remedy, and their first choice is usually the cheapest option — repair.

The CPA gives all repairs a warranty of three months, but the laptop’s second failure happened about five months after the initial repair.

That left Shelley with no right to insist on replacement laptop, despite her circumstances.

I pleaded her case with Incredible Connection anyway, given the laptop failed twice in 18 months; Shelley had already been without it for a month this year while it was repaired, and she’s about to leave the country for six months.

I’m happy to report I received a response which made Shelley happy: her laptop will be replaced under extended warranty.

Don’t stand for paying your bank charges plus the retailer’s

I regularly hear stories about shopkeepers adding 5% or 6% to items at the till when their customers pay by card, or increasing the price by a flat R5 or even R10.

Susanna wrote: “The owner of a store in central Durban adds R10 to purchases if you pay by card. When I told him  it is illegal and said I was going to report him, he arrogantly asked me: ‘Today or tomorrow?’

“He knows he’s doing the wrong thing, but believes he can do as he pleases.”

Worst of all, she said, "when you ask if you can pay by card, he says yes, but when you’re paying he tells you it’s an extra R10 for card purchases”,

That’s the first tip — query the card fee issue before you shop.

This week Cindy raised the same issue with me.

“I'm writing to seek help for my community (a Durban suburb),” she said.

“Today I was charged extra for swiping my card at one of our shops, which happens regularly.

“The items cost R94 and the shop attendant swiped for R99, because, he said, my total was below R100.

“They also do this when we buy airtime or electricity.”

What the shopkeepers are doing is passing on their banking fees to their customers, which is illegal in terms of the CPA and g is a violation of the Merchants Agreement they sign with their banks when they take possession of a point of sale device, or “card machine”.

What to do: Refuse to pay the extra amount or abandon your purchase if the shopkeeper won’t accept that. Then take a note of the bank branding on the machine and report it to the bank in question, as well as to the Consumer Goods and Services Ombudsman. Name and shame the store on social media. This is a totally unacceptable practice.

Buying a car on auction: what could go wrong? Lots

Auctions are a legitimate means of buying and selling everything from homes and cars to furniture and art, provided the auctioneers play by the rules, and the consumers understand their rights and obligations.

The big downside for consumers is that you’re essentially buying the item voetstoets. The CPA’s right of return within six months, if a product proves to be defective in some way, does not apply to auction sales.

When it comes to cars, you may not test drive them before you bid. This is not a good combo.

However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t thoroughly inspect a car you fancy on the floor — or send an expert to do it for you — before it goes under the hammer.

That is essential, as a Capetonian who recently bought an almost 50-year-old Maserati, unseen, at a Johannesburg auction can attest.

It was described as being in “excellent” condition but was far from it.

The CPA regulations do stipulate that the rules of an auction may not exclude liability in respect of inaccurate information provided in the advertising of the auction. In theory you do have some legal recourse if the condition of a product you successfully bid for proves to be wildly inaccurate, but your time and energy is much spent getting the car professionally checked out as far as possible before the auction. If that’s not possible, avoid.

• GET IN TOUCH: You can contact Wendy Knowler for advice with your consumer issues via e-mail: consumer@knowler.co.za or on Twitter: @wendyknowler.

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